Pop culture stuff

[shadowkat]

1. I finished reading or rather listening to Zealot:The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazereth by Reza Aslan. (I listened to it on audible while working on a spreadsheet, making breakfast, and eating - I didn't read it. So I may have missed stuff. Don't know.)

The woman who suggested we all read it for our Bible Study Group, stated, "Shows how the Bible and Jesus were really about socialism and not this capitalistic crap..." [As an aside, I've been struggling with my Bible Study Group and Church for quite some time now - it's become increasingly political when I kind of want a break from it.]

I don't know. I'm not sure you can ascribe socialism and capitalism to people who lived 2000 years ago? I think they had a slightly different economic system back then - clearly not an equitable one, although I'm beginning to think that's impossible. (Humans are too egotistical, greedy and self-absorbed to manage a purely equitable economic system for very long.]

Also, I'm not sure that's what the book is necessarily about.

The book seems to be more of an examination of the differences between historical record and the writings in the bible, and how those writings have been interpreted. Also a heavy critique of the New Testament's focus on the life of St. Paul over Jesus. We get more details on St. Paul's life than Jesus's life or his disciples, when Paul showed up long after Jesus' death. Also, it's very violent. All the characters die gruesome deaths. And the Jews, Romans, and early Christians...all men, do not come out very well.
They seem to have a propensity for killing everyone who disagrees with them or doesn't believe the same way they do. Only to eventually find themselves on the opposite side of that argument, and find people doing it to them. I mean after a bit - I decided the Jews, Romans, Egyptians, Etc - deserved to be bludgeoned to death. They kind of had it coming. (I'm not sure if that was the author's intent - most likely not.)

The author definitely has an agenda, which is my difficulty with theologians posing as historians. Although it could be argued that historians aren't much better - everyone writes or acknowledges the history they wish to be remembered.

That said, I do agree with the author's premise that Jesus and his brother James, and his followers were about equality, equitable economic systems that provided for the poor, shared ownership and wealth or a more communal model - since the current rich vs poor model clearly wasn't working. They were anti-establishment, and to a degree revolutionaries (not clear whether they were non-violent ones, the author seems to be believe they were violent and more zealous in their mission) - both in regards to the Jewish establishment and the Roman establishment.

The book emphasizes that.

Also, I have to admit, I don't like St. Paul either. That's always been my issue with the New Testament, and well most Christian denominations - is I dislike St. Paul, and he's constantly being revered and followed. OR, as I discovered in Martha's Vineyard last year - it may just be how various monks translated St. Paul, and how he was interpreted that annoyed me.

So, the author's critique of the New Testament's glorification of Paul over Jesus, or rather argument that it glorifies Paul over Jesus is legitimate.

For my own part? I see The Bible as a collection of philosophical teachings, historical narrative, parables, and poetry. Some of it is meaningful to me, a lot of it...I kind of handwave or dismiss.

Overall not a bad book. A little...sanctimonious and righteous in places, Aslan kind of rants a bit towards the end. But definitely fascinating.
Curious to see what the Minister thinks of it.



2. NY Times has a list of things to watch on the streaming channels this weekend. There's a lot to watch. Frigging hell, you could get lost.

I'm flirting with:

The Undoing - HBO
Utopia - HBO - David Byrn's concert - which I've been told is available on HBO, not HBO Max
Lovecraft Country - HBO
October Faction - Netflix
The Magicians - Netflix
The Boys in the Band - Netflix
Virgin River - Netflix
The Witch - Netflix
The Dark - Netflix
Black Butler - Netflix
Rest of Teen Wolf - Amazon Prime
Clone Wars - Disney +
Muppets Now - Disney +

If you've anything to rec, let me know.

Off to read and sleep.

Comments

Zealot

[mtbc]

Thank you for the summary. That's largely my impression too, though I can't trust what I remember of it in case I'm mixing up parts with those from other books in that vein.

Re: Zealot

[shadowkat]

I was somewhat disappointed in it - I thought it would be more focused on historical narrative, and less on Biblical interpretation. Also, it kind of ignores the female roles in the narrative completely.

I may look into other books in the same vein, I know my father read a lot of them. If you've any rec's let me know.

Re: Zealot

[mtbc]

My books should arrive next month so I'll try to remember to get back to you once I see them again!

[mefisto]

The only one of those I've seen is The Dark. It's not bad, which I say because it involves time travel and I mostly think those plots are hard to pull off successfully. I'd probably give it a B.

As for the early Christians, there clearly was a communitarian vibe to them. A Catholic author, John Dominic Crossan, argues very strongly that that was the essence of the church/faith before Paul. Calling it "socialist" is imposing modern concepts on the past, though this particular anachronism has been common for a couple hundred years now.

ETA: A better show than The Dark, and also by a German company, is Babylon Berlin. On the surface it's a cop show where the guy starts off in vice and ends up in homicide, set in Berlin in 1929. They do a great job on the period stuff: cars, clothes, music, etc. What it's really doing is telling the story of the collapse of the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, which may hit a bit close to home right now.

Another possibility is Money Heist, a Spanish production involving bank robbers. Kind of an Ocean's 11 theme with a Robin Hood vibe.

[shadowkat]

The only one of those I've seen is The Dark. It's not bad, which I say because it involves time travel and I mostly think those plots are hard to pull off successfully. I'd probably give it a B.

Ugh. Time Travel annoys me. I've not liked a show that focused on it yet - I think the only that utilized Time Travel that did not drive me crazy was Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Terminator series. Mainly because they were very careful with it and followed strict scientific rules - didn't just use it as a clever device to further plot like everyone else.

A Catholic author, John Dominic Crossan, argues very strongly that that was the essence of the church/faith before Paul. Calling it "socialist" is imposing modern concepts on the past, though this particular anachronism has been common for a couple hundred years now.

It would make sense. Paul was basically trying to convert the Romans, and Wealthy. He'd come from wealth and was preaching to that class. And really wasn't into social reform at all.

But we're talking about events that happened over 2000 years ago? Socialism and Capitalism are concepts that have only been around for what about 200 years? Maybe 300. Not sure it goes back as far as Medieval Times, but possibly. A lot of stuff was lost in the Middle Ages. Although, I'm not entirely sure what we'd call the Roman and ancient Hebrew, and Babylonian not to mention Celt idea of economics or commerce. They had coins, and they traded goods, but it seemed most items were owned by the state or Kingdom, and the tenant paid the state, and paid the church. The book sort of goes into it in a way - a Theocracy - is what the ancient Hebrews practiced - where the Temple pretty much ran everything. You gave your first crops to the the temple, and things were evenly dispersed through it to everyone, God or the Pharissee would determine distribution of goods and wealth. Also what everyone did. So religious communism?
The Roman and Egyptian method was kind of a hybrid of that.

They still had poverty and they killed people a lot. Historical record doesn't make one overly optimistic about humanity, does it?

I don't think I can do Berlin. I can't do anything like that right now. I couldn't watch The Americans. Or anything remotely political.

I have tried Money Heist - got about ten episodes in, and then lost interest for some reason.

[mefisto]

A lot of the early socialists had romantic ideas about the early Christians (before they were corrupted by the Church and its various creeds and hierarchies, donchaknow). They liked to put themselves in that tradition, though modern socialism (i.e., from Marx on) makes no sense except in contrast to capitalism. The early Christians do seem to have done lots of sharing, though that's common in many agricultural societies -- you won't last long without it. But while there were generally market economies -- money and trade -- Roman society certainly wasn't "capitalist" given all the slaves and forced work.

I enjoyed Money Heist, though S4 ends on a cliffhanger and god knows if they'll be able to finish it. Babylon Berlin has more seasons planned, but the ending isn't built around a cliffhanger. Still, you might want to hold off until after the election. :)

[yourlibrarian]

There were some pretty funny moments in Muppets Now but I can't call it a must-watch. It is, however, short viewing as I think there were only 8 episodes in this first season. I saw a chart the other day that suggested it's in the top 10 views of Disney+ so far, so I imagine it will return at some point.

I also saw The Boys in the Band last week. Well done but also rather intense viewing. I have embarassment squicks so I had to forward through some parts.

I also plan to watch the Byrne concert but haven't seen it yet. I enjoyed Clone Wars but it may depend on how much of a Star Wars fan you are. For me, it was vital viewing, filling in such a lot of blanks. Mike and I are currently rewatching Star Wars Rebels because we saw the two series out of order, so he wants to take it in again now that we know all the characters from Clone Wars who pop up again.

[shadowkat]

Did see "Boys in the Band" today - agreed well done, but hard to watch. I also have serious embarrassment squicks. I found 90% of it painful and wanted to strangle Michael at various points.

I'm not that much of a Star Wars fan. I don't even remember the prequels.

[yourlibrarian]

Unless you want to get more deeply into Star Wars, I'd recommend skipping Clone Wars then. It fits in between the second and third films in the prequel trilogy, and does a good job of not only filling out the SW verse but making us care about characters who were just sketched out in the films. (As someone somewhere put it, knowing Anakin was going to fall really hurt). But it is not a short series.

I did watch the David Byrne concert yesterday and think it's worth the watch. I'd also recommend My Octopus Teacher on Netflix -- I think you might relate to it.